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Newly Reborn “Snoop Lion” Banned From Norway

It is not uncommon for a music artist to change their name, P. Diddy, Prince, and Lil Wayne have all done it during their careers, and now the latest artist to change names is Snoop Lion, formerly Snoop Dogg. The re-branding comes with his decision to switch from being a hip hop and rap artist to creating a reggae album. Snoop has decided to transition from rap to the slower island music and has embraced the culture. He has made his love for drugs, especially marijuana, very public and just recently had a run in with authorities in Norway who fined him and banned him for two years from entering Norway.

The Incident

Snoop Lion is no stranger to controversy or breaking the law and he routinely gets fined for marijuana possession. In late June he was stopped by authorities in Norway and when they searched him they found his stash of marijuana. He was fined almost nine thousand dollars for the possession which he can certainly afford, but was additionally banned from the sovereign nation of Norway for 2 years following the charge. It’s no shock that Snoop Lion was charged with possession, he was busted just six months ago in January for having less than an ounce of pot on his tour bus.

Snoop Lion’s Arrest Record

The West-Coast rapper has a pretty lengthy arrest record dating back to the early 1990s when he was just a teenager. In 1990 Snoop was arrested for cocaine possession and spent the next three years in and out of prison. He has been arrested or charged with drug possession more than ten times during his life, but he never spent very much time if any for most of those charges. His worst offense was in 1993 when he was charged as an accomplice in the murder of Phillip Woldermarian a 20 year old ethiopian immigrant and member of the “bloods” gang. Snoop’s bodyguard shot Woldermarian to death when he approached their jeep with a gun and then the two fled the scene. Snoop and his bodyguard were both found not guilty and the incident actually helped Snoop’s rap career. The murder helped Snoop gain notoriety and his first album debuted at number one on the billboard top forty.

Snoop’s Reaction to Ban

Snoop Lion’s latest offense did not land him behind bars but it did come with a lengthy suspension from entering Norway. He is not allowed to enter Norway until 2014 and had to cancel a show he had scheduled for the area. When asked if he would appeal the suspension, his legal representative in Norway said that Snoop was not going to appeal the ban and was fine with the punishment.

As Snoop Dogg reinvents himself as “Snoop Lion” the reggae artist, he will likely continue to have trouble with legal authorities and abuse marijuana. He has always found a way to be in trouble with the law, and changing his name will not fix that problem.